Bottling system

ABSTRACT

A bottling system comprising a molding machine for producing synthetic resin bottles, a bottle aligning machine for continuously receiving the bottles and sending them successively out in a row in an upright position, a bottling machine to be supplied with the bottles from the bottle aligning machine for filling the bottles, a printing machine disposed in the path of travel of the upright bottles for printing the bottles, and a capping machine such as a heat sealer for capping the filled bottles.

nited States Patent 1191 a 1451 Au 1.3 1974 BOTTLING SYSTEM 3,198,4028/1965 Hunt et a1 221/265 x 3,246,806 4/1966 McBride, Jr. 221/265 X [75]Inventor Kazu Ueda Tokyo Japan 3,543,909 12/1970 Ueda 193/33 AA3,562,372 2/1971 Schjehdahl et a1. 264/94 [73] Asslgnee 'f,',',,,,,';f"3,744,212 7/1973 Mistarz et a1. 53/183 x [22] Filed: 1973 PrimaryExaminerTravis S. McGehee [21] A l N 342,3 0 Assistant Examiner.lohnSipos Attorney, Agent, or FirmGeorge B. Oujevolk Related U.S.Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 231,286, March 2, 1972, Pat.I ABSTRACT U.S. Cl. 53/167, 53/183 A bottling system comprising amolding machine for [52 producing synthetic resin bottles, a bottlealigning ma- 51 Int. Cl B6sb3/02 shine for continuously receiving thebottles and send- [58] Field of Search 53/140, 167, 191, 194, ing themsuccessively out in a row in an p g P 53 3 4 3; 22 5 277; 2 7 tion, abottling machine t0 be supplied with the bottles 239 from the bottlealigning machine for filling the bottles, a printing machine disposed inthe path of travel of 5 References Cited the upright bottles forprinting the bottles, and a cap- UNITED STATES PATENTS ping machine suchas a heat sealer for capping the filled bottles. 2,139,573 12/1938 Booth53/167 2,652,916 9/1953 Mason 194/63 6 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures l//////l 7//////////////I PATENTEB AUG] 31974 SHEEI 2 [1F 6 PAIENIED nus:awn

SHEET 3 OF 6 BOTTLING SYSTEM This is a division of application Ser. No.231,286 filed Mar. 2, 1972, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,792,949.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a systemfor producing synthetic resin bottles by molding and filling the bottleswith milk or an acidophilus beverage to provide a prepared bottledproduct, a portion of the system being described in the Ueda U.S. Pat.No. 3,543,909.

For the production of bottled beverages, it has been a general practiceto collect empty bottles for use and filling the bottles with milk or abeverage after cleansing. However, such a method is troublesome in thatlabor is required for collection and cleansing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with this invention, bottles ofsynthetic resin are manufactured by a molding machine and sent to analigning machine from which they are taken out in the upright positionand then fed into a bottling machine one after another. Accordingly, theoverall operation starting with the molding of the bottles is carriedout smoothly and continuously. Moreover, since a row of upstandingbottles are sent out from the aligning machine and led to the printingmachine by a conveyor line for printing on the side of the bottle, theinvention has the advantage that commercial products are obtained withprinting provided thereon.

The present invention will be described in greater detail with referenceto the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS a bottle alinging machine;

FIG. 5 depicts a sectional view taken along the line P -P in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 illustrates an enlarged view in horizontal section showing partof an inner cylinder and an outer cylinder where bottles are transferredfrom inside the inner cylinder to outside;

FIG. 7 shows a front development of FIG. 6 with the outer cylindereliminated;

FIG. 8 depicts a view in section taken along the line QQ in FIG. 7',and,

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a printing press which is one of thecomponentsin FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION With reference to the drawings, the system of thisinvention will be described below. FIG. I shows a hollow injectionmolding machine A, a storage tank B, an air chute C by which bottlesproduced by the molding machine are sent into the storage tank B, ablower D therefor, a bottle aligning machine E, a completely sealedbucket conveyor F for transferring the bottles from the storage tank Bto the bottle aligning machine E, a printing press G, a control panel Hfor controlling the amount of the bottles to be fed to a bottlingmachine I, a cap forming machine J, a heat sealer K for capping, abottle collecting table T, and a conveyor L extending-from the bottlealigning machine E to the bottle collecting table T.

In the above arrangement, the bottles formed by the molding machine Aare sent into the storage tank 8, from which they are continuouslycharged into the bottle aligning machine E at a constant rate. Thebottles are then sent out from the aligning machine E in a row withtheir mouth up and thereafter carried to the printing press G whereprinting is placed on the side surface of the bottles. This is followedby filling on the bottling machine I, and capping by the heat sealer K.Finally the bottles are collected on the table T. The storage tank Bassures the supply of a constant quantity of bottles to the aligningmachine E even when the molding machine A is out of operation forinspection and maintenance. The printing press G may be disposed at adesired position along the conveyor path L for a row of the upstandingbottles which extends from the aligning machine E to the bottlecollecting table T.

Among all the components shown in the abovementioned manufacturingprocess, the control panel H and a few other components are alreadyknown and used for preparing bottled products. The present invention isparticularly directed to the flow of the bottles starting with thebottle forming by the hollow injection molding machine A and terminatingwith the operation on the bottle aligning machine E. Since the hollowinjection molding machine A per se is also known in the art, thefollowing description will be directed to the storage tank B and thebottle aligning machine E which are especially used for practicing theprocess of this invention.

The storage tank B, particularly a discharge device which is animportant part thereof, is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. With reference tothese drawings, a short cylindrical portion 1 extends downward from thebottom I wall of the storage tank B. The bottom plate 2 of thecylindrical portion 1 is secured by bolts and nuts to a flange'3attached to the lower end of the cylindrical portion 1. A dischargeoutlet 4 nearly rectangular in section is formed in the bottom plate 2on one side and has a chute fitted therein tightly and extending outwardobliquely. An upright drive shaft 7 is coaxial with the cylindricalportion 1 and extends through the bottom plate 2. A bearing box 8 weldedto the bottom plate 2 houses upper and lower bearings l3and l4. Attachedto the bottom plate 2 of the cylindrical portion 1 is a frame, U-shapedin cross section, in which a motor 10 and a reduction gear 11 aredisposed. An electromagnetic clutch 12 is included in a transmissionsystem for transmitting the rotation of the motor 10 to the drive shaft7 by way of the reduction gear 11 and is controlled by the photoelectrictube means on the aligning machine E for detecting the amount ofbottles.

Rotatably mounted on'the upper end of the drive shaft 7 by means of abearing 6 is an umbrella-like member 15 including a slanting portion 15aand a vertical portion 15b. The umbrella-like member 15 has a bearingbox 16 welded to its upper end centrally thereof and a rotary disc 17welded to an upper part of the vertical portion 15b. The rotary disc 17has a diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of thecylindrical portion 1 and formed at its center with an opening inconformity with the outer periphery of the umbrella-like member 15. Thevertical portion b of the umbrella-like member 15 fits into the openingfor welding to the disc. A projection 18 of an inverted V- shaped crosssection is secured to the disc 17 and extends in a radial direction.Part of the disc 17 is cut out to provide an opening 19 for dropping thebottles, which may alternatively be in the form of a hole. A seetor-likeplate 20 for controlling the area of the opening 19 is slidable onarcuate guides 21 and 22. The control plate 20 is formed along its inneredge with several holes 23, and a bolt 24 is passed through one of theholes 23 to fasten the plate 20 to the guide 22 and the disc 17 with anut at the controlled position. Welded to the lower part of inner faceof vertical portion 15b is an internal gear 25 meshing with two pinions26, which in turn mesh with a center gear 27 secured to the upper end ofthe bearing box 8. The shafts 28 of the pinions are supported at theirupper ends by a horizontal bracket 29 fixed to the drive shaft 7.

An annular member 30 disposed under the umbrellalike member 15 issomewhat smaller in diameter than the umbrella-like member 15 andextends upward slightly beyond the lower end of the vertical portion 15bof the umbrella-like member 15. A support 31 in the form of a doughnutis welded to the lower end of inner face of the annular member 30 andreceives the lower ends of the pinion shafts 28. Four upright blades 32made of a resilient material extend radially from the annular member 30and have such length that they almost come into contact with the innerface of the cylindrical portion 1. The resilient material may preferablybe Neoprene (polychloroprene). The number of the blades 32 may vary asdesired; the more, the better.

In the foregoing construction, the disc 17 and the blades 32 are drivenin a counterclockwise direction in FIG. 2, and the former is faster thanthe latter. More specifically, the rotation of the drive shaft 7 istransmitted to the blades 32 by way of the bracket 29 and the pinionshafts 28, while it is delivered to the disc 17 through the bracket 29,pinions 26 and internal gear 25. The disc 17 and blades 32 need not bedriven in the same direction but may be driven in reverse directions.Further, the disc 17 need not be driven at a higher speed than theblades 32, but may be rotated at a lower speed. However, either one maypreferably be faster than the other to eliminate variation in the amountof discharge.

A great number of bottles supplied from the air chute C into the tank Bare led along the slanting bottom to the cylindrical portion 1 andcollected on the disc 17 and then smoothly dropped through the opening19 onto the bottom plate 2, one after another, by the rotation of thedisc 17. The bottles are thereafter pushed toward the discharge outlet 4by the blades 32 and finally sent out from the discharge chute 5approximately at a constant rate.

Without the disc 17, the bottles would ge entangled with one another ina complicated manner and block the outlet 4, preventing themselves fromdropping smoothly. In the event the rotating blade should hit thebottles blocking the outlet 4, some bottles would then be pressedagainst the edge of the outlet 4 and broken. In accordance with theapparatus described above, however, the bottles are first received bythe rotary disc 17 at the upper portion and then uniformly andsuccessively drop through the opening 19 onto the bottom plate 2 of thecylindrical portion 1 as the disc 17 goes on rotating. The bottles arethereafter brouht to the discharge outlet 4 by the rotary blades 32,from which they are sent out substantially at a constantrate withoutbreakage.

Now with reference to FIGS. 4 to 8 showing a bottle aligning machine E,a fixed outer cylinder serving as a casing is indicated at 35 and itscover, at 36. A supply chute 37 extending obliquely from one side of thecover is connected to the discharge chute 5 of the aforementioned tankB. At the center of a bottom frame 38 there is provided a boss 39 towhich a vertical shaft 40 is fixed. Extendible legs 41 are attached tothe bottom frame 38. A conical bottle rolling floor 42 having a polishedupper surface is secured to the top of the vertical shaft 40. A rotaryinner cylinder 43 coaxial with the fixed outer cylinder 35 has aslightly smaller diameter and a bottom frame 44 provided with radialmembers 44a with ribs. The center boss 45 of the bottom frame is mountedon the vertical shaft 40 by means of bearings 46. A friction roller 47is in contact with a ring 48 welded to the lower end of inner face ofthe inner cylinder 43. A friction roller supporting member 49 is fixedto the bottom frame 38. A motor 50 is fixed to the under face of thebottom frame 38 by an adjustable support 51. Worm reduction means 52 isdirectly fixed to the under face of the bottom frame 38. A chain 53transmits the torque of the motor 50 to the reduction means. A gear 54connected to the reduction means 52 and projecting above the bottomframe 38 meshes with a gear 55 fixedly mounted on the lower end of shaftof the friction roller 47. A trough 56 of an L-shaped cross-section iswelded to the bottom frame 44 along the outer periphery of the uppersurface thereof. The peripheral edge of the conical floor-42 extendsover the trough. At an intermediate position between the inner cylinder43 and the bottom frame 38, a trough 57 is welded to the inner surfaceof the outer cylinder 35. The lower end of the inner cylinder 43 isdisposed above the trough 57. A sterilizing liquid received by thetrough 56 flows through a hole 58 formed in the inner cylinder 43 intothe trough 57. The trough 57 is provided with a drain 59.

Inner drive projections 60 are fixed to the inner circumferentialsurface of the inner cylinder 43 and are spaced apart from each other bya distance slightly greater than the length of the bottle. Eachprojection has a width approximately corresponding to the radius of thebottle and the upper end thereof projects slightly above the upper endof the inner cylinder 43 with the lower end disposed approximately atthe same level as the peripheral edge of the conical floor 42. Aprojecting portion 60a extends from the upper end of the inner driveprojection 60 and is positioned on the upper end of the inner cylinder43.

A guide rail 61 of a circular cross section extends along the innerperiphery of the row of the inner drive projections 60 and has more thana semicircular length as seen in plan view. The upper end of the guiderail is positioned slightly above the upper end of the inner cylinder 43and the lower end thereof is located at the bottle pusher 63 projectsobliquely outwards along the upper end of the guide rail 61 and issecured to one of the hangers 62.

On the outer circumferential surface of the inner cylinder 43 at aposition slightly to the rear, as viewed with respect to the directionor rotation of the inner cylinder 43, from the position corresponding tothat of each of the inner drive projections 60 is disposed an outerprojection 64 which has a width approximately equal to half the distancebetween the inner cylinder 43 and outer cylinder 35. The upper end ofthe projection 64 is positioned slightly below the upper end of theinner cylinder 43, the lower end being substantially above the level ofthe middle portion of the inner cylinder 43. The securing portion 64a ofthe outer projection 64 is spotwelded to the outer face of the innercylinder 43. A U- shaped clearing member 65 secured to the upper end ofeach outer projection 64 extends toward the outer cylinder and has afront upright portion 65a and a rear upright portion 65b with respect tothe rotational direction. The outer projection 64 is bent at a rightangle to provide a guide 66 which extends downwardly below the outerprojection 64, the side edge thereof slanting backward.

Below the outer projections 64 there is disposed a bottle position floor67 which is welded to the outer circumferential surface of the innercylinder 43 at a level slightly below the middle portion of the height.The outer cylinder 35 is formed with a bottle exit 68 to which isconnected a bottle discharge guide 69. Part of the discharge guide 69extends into the interior through the exit 68 and one side plate thereofserves as a barrier 70 which blocks a portion above the bottle positionfloor 67. Indicated at 71 is photoelectric tube means comprising aprojector and a receiver for detecting the quantity of the bottleswithin the aligning machine (see FIG. 4). The photoelectric tube means 7is mounted on an arm 72 extending inward from the upper end of the outercylinder 35 and is positioned at a right angle to the slanting face ofthe conical floor 42.

In the foregoing embodiment, a great number of bottles charged inthrough the bottle supply chute 37 first drop onto the conical floor 42and roll downthe sloping surface up to its peripheral edge, where thereis provided the inner cylinder 43 which is constantly revolving.Accordingly, the bottles are automatically trapped in between respectiveinner drive projection 60 and driven in a counterclockwise direction bythe inner drive projections 60 up to the lower end 610 of the guide rail61. The stationary guide rail 61 extends along the row of the innerdrive projections 60 in slanting manner, whereas the inner projections60 have a height approximately equal to the vertical rise of the guiderail 61 and are in rotation, The projections 60 therefore push thebottles upwardly along the guide rail 61 until they reach the upper end61b thereof, when the bottles, guided by the pusher 63, are forcedbeyond the upper end of the inner cylinder 43 to drop outside (see FIG.3). At this time, the bottle whose mouth is directed toward thedirection of the travel is sent upward along the slanting guide rail 61with the bottle bottom kept in contact with the inner drive projections60. When the bottle is to be finally moved beyond the upper end of theinner cylinder 43 along the projecting portions 600, the shoulder of thebottle comes into contact with the rear upright portion 65b of thepreceding clearing member 65 disposed outside the inner cylinder 43, so

that the bottle drops onto the position floor 67 correctly in theupstanding state. On the other hand, in the case where the mouth of abottle is directed toward a direction opposite to that of the directionof travel, the bottle is moved upward along the slanting guide rail 61with the mouth kept in contact with the inner drive projection 60. Whenthe bottle finally reaches the projection portion 60a at the upper endof the inner projection, the bottle mouth, being smaller than the mainportion of the bottle in diameter, does not engage, but clears theprojecting portion 60a and moves beyond the upper edge of the innercylinder 43. However, since the inner cylinder 43 goes on rotating, thebottle is substantially moved backward, with the result that theshoulder of the bottle strikes the front upright portion a of theclearing member 35 which is positioned behind the bottle. Just as in theabovementioned case, the bottle consequently drops with its bottom sidedown onto the bottom position floor 67 correctly in the upstandingstate. In this manner, the bottles pushed forward by the inner driveprojections 60 and sent upward along the slanting guide rail 61 aredelivered one after another from inside the inner cylinder 43 to theoutside and placed in a normal upright position on the bottle positionfloor 67 when dropping thereon. Due to the rotation of the innercylinder 43, the bottles on the floor 67 are moved counterclockwise.When brought forward halfway of a revolution, the bottles strike thebarrier 70, and through the exit 68 formed in the outer cylinder 35 anddischarge guide 69, they are delivered onto a belt conveyor L.

The printing press G for providing suitable printing on the side facesof the upright bottles aligned may be a known offset printing machine.The structure of the machine will be described below briefly. Withreference to FIG. 9, an offset rubber drum 73 has a peripheral surface,part of which is positioned in the path of travel of a row of thebottles on the conveyor L. An arcuate pressing plate 74 is spaced apartfrom the rubber drum 73 in facing relation by a distance for interposinga bottle therebetween. A nozzle 76 for applying ink to a plate drum isconnected to a pump 77. An ink pot is indicated at 78; a cleaning rollerfor wiping off excess ink on the rubber drum, at 79; a timing screw forcontrolling the distance between the bottles to be continuously fed tothe printing press G, at 80; and a belt for sending out the bottlesafter printing, at 81.

The ink applied to the plate drum 75 by the nozzle 76 is further appliedto the offset rubber drum 73. On the other hand, the upright bottlessent forward in a row from the aligning machine E by the conveyor L arecarried forward while being rotated by contact with the rubber drum 73,whereby they are printed on the side thereof by the rubber drum 73.After printing, the bottles are fed to the bottling machine I for thesubsequent filling operation as already described.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for producing and handling bottles or the like madeof synthetic resin material, said apparatus having:

a. a bottle molding machine (A), for producing synthetic resin bottles;

b. a bottle aligning machine (E) which is capable of continuouslyreceiving bottles and of successively discharging them in an uprightposition;

c. bottle conveying means (F) disposed for transferring bottles from themolding to the aligning machine;

d. a bottle filling machine (I) which is supplied with bottles from thealigning machine;

e. a bottle closing machine for closing said bottles disposed in thepath of travel of the upright bottles; and,

f. a bottle reservoir interposed in said conveying means between saidmolding machine and said aligning machine, said bottle reservoirincluding a storage tank having a bottom wall, and a circular opening inthe lower region thereof in which discharge means are located and alower cylindrical neck portion extending down from said bottom wall;said discharge means being rotatable about a substantially vertical axiscausing the bottles to be conveyed to a reservoir outlet; theimprovement therein wherein said discharge means comprise a disc (17)having at least one opening (19) therein for the passage of bottles,rotatably mounted within said cylindrical neck portion, and at least oneelongated rotatable blade (32) extending substantially to the innerperiphery of the neck portion mounted beneath said disc, said bladebeing rotatable so as to convey bottles falling through the opening insaid disc to an outlet aperture formed in said bottom wall.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the opening in said discis adjustable in dimension to enable the flow of bottles to becontrolled.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which said blade is rotatablein the same or opposite direction with respect to the direction ofrotation of said disc.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, in which said at least one bladeand said disc are rotatable at different relative speeds by means ofdifferential gearing.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which at least one blade ismounted on the upper surface of said disc to stir bottles when locatedin the main body of the reservoir above the disc.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which a conveyor is providedto transfer bottles from the outlet of said reservoir to the aligningdevice.

1. In an apparatus for producing and handling bottles or the like madeof synthetic resin material, said apparatus having: a. a bottle moldingmachine (A), for producing synthetic resin bottles; b. a bottle aligningmachine (E) which is capable of continuously receiving bottles and ofsuccessively discharging them in an upright position; c. bottleconveying means (F) disposed for transferring bottles from the moldingto the aligning machine; d. a bottle filling machine (I) which issupplied with bottles from the aligning machine; e. a bottle closingmachine for closing said bottles disposed in the path of travel of theupright bottles; and, f. a bottle reservoir interposed in said conveyingmeans between said molding machine and said aligning machine, saidbottle reservoir including a storage tank having a bottom wall, and acircular opening in the lower region thereof in which discharge meansare located and a lower cylindrical neck portion extending down fromsaid bottom wall; said discharge means being rotatable about asubstantially vertical axis causing the bottles to be conveyed to areservoir outlet; the improvement therein wherein said discharge meanscomprise a disc (17) having at least one opening (19) therein for thepassage of bottles, rotatably mounted within said cylindrical neckportion, and at least one elongated rotatable blade (32) extendingsubstantially to the inner periphery of the neck portion mounted beneathsaid disc, said blade being rotatable so as to convey bottles fallingthrough the opening in said disc to an outlet aperture formed in saidbottom wall.
 2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the openingin said disc is adjustable in dimension to enable the flow of bottles tobe controlled.
 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which saidblade is rotatable in the same or opposite direction with respect to thedirection of rotation of said disc.
 4. An apparatus as claimed in claim3, in which said at least one blade and said disc are rotatable atdifferent relative speeds by means of differential gearing.
 5. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which at least one blade is mountedon the upper surface of said disc to stir bottles when located in themain body of the reservoir above the disc.
 6. An apparatus as claimed inclaim 1, in which a conveyor is provided to transfer bottles from theoutlet of said reservoir to the aligning device.